Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/1515580
74 m a s s a g e & b o d y wo r k m a rc h /a p r i l 2 0 24 Power in Collaboration Communicate Across Disciplines for Your Client's Benefit By Cal Cates Health care often happens in a vacuum, but excellent health care happens in collaboration, with a view beyond our treatment rooms and discipline-specific care plans. As massage therapists, we are not generally taught about the importance of collaboration with other providers or the skills of interdisciplinary communication. The initial steps to begin this relationship with other providers are simple and can have a lasting effect on your own practice as well as on the outcomes your clients enjoy. You are well within your right as a fellow health- care provider to take the initiative to connect with other providers. At the same time, it's reasonable to feel a bit daunted or even jaded by what have felt like failed attempts in the past or the fear that your outreach won't be well received. Don't let that stop you. Take a deep breath and think of your clients. PULLING OUT THE FOCUS The first thing to remember is that it's not about you. You may reach out to other providers and never hear back. You may reach out and feel that the information you receive is not as helpful as you had hoped. Any number of other scenarios may play out when you try to connect with other health-care providers in the service of your clients. It's important to remember that much of what we do to open doors to relationships with more mainstream health care can be equated with planting seeds for trees under which we won't have the opportunity to sit. We are clearing the path for those who come after us. It's also important to remember that just because you didn't get the response you wanted, or any response at all, doesn't mean your outreach did not have an impact. Most humans suffer from fundamental attribution error. In its most basic sense, fundamental attribution error is when we decide that other people do bad things because they are bad people with malicious intent or poor character. It's considered an error because, as one of my favorite teachers once said, "Nobody thinks about you as much as you think about you." The doctor, physical therapist, or chiropractor who didn't get back to you is likely just busy. Maybe they sprained their ankle, or maybe they already think massage therapists are great and they were just glad to hear that their patient was seeing you. I could list any number of other benign, real, and human reasons for a nonresponse. The bottom line: Don't take it personally. MAKING THE CONNECTION If you decide you'd like to reach out to a fellow provider on behalf of a client, the first step is to get consent from your client to talk with their other provider about the work you're doing together. There are a variety of ways to obtain consent, but in this case, you want to get what's called informed consent, and you want to get it in writing so all three people (you, your client, and the other provider) have a clear record of the decision and agreement to share what is called protected health information (PHI). Anything related to your work with a client is considered PHI, and that information is protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPA A). While the application of HIPA A to the practice of massage therapy varies by state and practice setting, it's good practice to adhere to its dictates. If you assume you are bound by HIPA A, any information you collect about your clients is covered by HIPA A. Breaking the rules Critical Thinking | Massage Therapy as Health Care KEY POINT • Networking with providers outside your field can benefit your client treatment process and add to your repertoire of valuable resources and referrals.